In an exclusive primetime interview, the freelance photographer for the N.Y. Post who snapped pictures showing a man facing death on the tracks of a New York City Subway defends himself and details the scene.FULL POST

Jon Candelaria is being hailed as a hero for pulling a man out of rushing floodwaters during Superstorm Sandy. He did what most hope to have the courage to do in a life or death emergency.

The 25-year-old father was in his family’s Upper East Side apartment on Monday night when he looked out the window and saw an SUV taxi lifted by the powerful force of water beneath it. While his mother tried to reach 911 for help, Candelaria went to save the driver who was nearly drowning. The water was up to Candelaria’s chest, but he managed to pry open the door, with the driver’s help, just in time.

After growing public outcry with hundreds of thousands of storm-ravaged residents still without power and a rising death toll, the New York City Marathon won’t take place this Sunday. “We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it,” Bloomberg said in a joint press release with the New York Road Runners, which organizes the marathon.

“We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event - even one as meaningful as this - to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track,” the statement reads.

The cancellation comes just hours after Bloomberg insisted at a news conference the race would go on saying we needed to “give people something to cheer about in a week that's been pretty dismal.” The mayor insisted the marathon wouldn’t divert police or other assets from Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts.

As Sandy battered the Northeast Monday night, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo watched the water pour into the streets of downtown Manhattan. He describes the experience as "disorienting and frightening."

"It was truly frightening to say the least because, first it was all dark, all you hear is water in every direction...and again, you didn't know when it was going to stop and you're in the middle of building this building which has taken so long and a lot of the site is at a very delicate, precarious area because it's under construction," says Cuomo.

The September 11 museum under the memorial filled with water during the storm, and it's still being pumped out from below ground. Steve Plake, the lead engineer for the World Trade Center Project, says 20 million gallons were removed and there are between 150 – 200 million gallons remaining at the site.

CNN's Jason Carroll goes down into South Ferry Station in New York City with an MTA official to see how badly it was damaged by Superstorm Sandy. "The electrical systems, the fare collection systems, the lighting systems, the stairways, the ventilation systems, the elevators, the escalators - they're all pretty much ruined from the water damage," says MTA's Chief Infrastructure Officer Frank Jezycki.